Recruits

I keep watching Rafal Zielinski's 1980s T&A comedies even though I readily acknowledge that they aren't very good. They all seem to have a hard-to-explain likability to them even though the jokes consistently miss the mark and there isn't much to enjoy about them except for bare female flesh and a nostalgia factor if you're a child of the 80s.

In Recruits, the characters we are supposed to like are actually somewhat likable, which is not generally the case in Zielinski's films. As in all of Zielinski's efforts, the cast seems to be having a good time and they aren't taking their roles too seriously. And from a purely superficial perspective, there's plenty of attractive nude skin on display, most notably from Lolita Davidovich.

Unfortunately, the film simply isn't funny, which is obviously a fatal flaw for a comedy. Had I watched this movie when I was 13, or before the internet made nudity a click away, I might have enjoyed the over-the-top slapstick combined with copious amounts of nudity. But at three times that age, the proceedings got old pretty quick.

Worth watching if 80s sex comedies make you nostalgic. Otherwise, I suggest you pass on this one.

This film essentially begins with a crooked police chief by the name of "Captain Magruder" (Mike MacDonald) coming up with a plan to embarrass his immediate supervisor "Mayor Bagley" (Jason Logan) in order to force his resignation and then move into the vacant position. To that effect, he conspires with his two assistants, "Master Sergeant Stonewall" (Tony Travis) and "Sergeant Schicklegruber" (Colleen Passard) to hire the most incompetent people they can find and then have them guard the mayor while they stage a fake assassination attempt--and consequently blame the fiasco directly on the mayor. What they don't count on, however, is the mess these newly hired police officers will create in the two weeks it takes to train them. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film was clearly a low-budget clone of the popular "Police Academy" franchise initially created two years earlier. And while this particular movie wasn't nearly as good as the first two films in the "Police Academy" franchise, it still managed to compare favorably to some of the others that followed them. Of course, that isn't really saying much, as none of those movies really stood out in the first place. That being said, while I don't consider this film to be that good either, I suppose it had a couple of humorous scenes here and there, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

This was clearly made to cash in on the Police Academy films which were popular at the time. It's about a bunch of dopes who are recruited to join the police force in a small town and the predictable comedic problems which ensue. The comedy is about as desperate as you can get and there is lots of footage of people on motorbikes. It makes you wonder if the producers were trying to make a biker film. Stick with the Police Academy films instead!

The dreaded 'Police Academy' series was considered by many a snobbish movie buff to be the ultimate in low-brow, tasteless humor. Imagine how those film-snobs must feel seeing something like 'Recruits' - an even more tasteless take on the same premise.

I, for one, love it! Never had a problem with (most of) the 'Police Academy' movies, and this makes me laugh even harder because the humor is even more juvenile and gross. There's something about a movie that just doesn't even try to show a little restraint that tends to crack me up in a 'I can't believe they did this' kind of way. Another good example of this is 'Hamburger: The Motion Picture".

The jokes are brazenly funny, the acting isn't very good - even by a young Lolita Davidovich (who was still going by Lolita David at the time) but it works, there are generous amounts of gratuitous t&a, and the bad guy's right hand man is so over the top I can't stop laughing anytime he's on. He barks everything he says to the recruits and shouts one specific word for greater effect (e.g. "There will be no WOMEN in your ROOMS!!!"). It's hard to describe how funny it is in the movie, you just have to hear it.

Anyway, 'Recruits' is great - I first fell in love with it when I rented it back in 1986 (if I remember correctly, the store just got it in and I was the first one to rent it) and I now own my own VHS copy which I watch every couple of years and laugh all over again. We need a DVD!

Despite the obvious restrictions in low-budget commercial film-making, the numerous funny, stupid, gritty and sexy ideas in this 'Police Academy' take-off, spring out at every turn, due in most part to the creativity of Canadian producer Maurice Smith of Maurice Smith Productions.

Kudos to lovely Lolita Davidovich riding around nude in a mayor's limo during a big-city parade; the gorgeous Elizabeth Harden and her sweet turn as a yacht owner's wife; 6-year old Sasha Dolgy challenging a Harley-riding cop to a drag race; the absolutely wild motorcycle stunts; and a great theme-song "Recruits - Ride Hard Live Free" by Michael Stevens and Curtis Lee (ideal for any number of motorcycle/car commercials).

There are some good ideas here ...